Handsome Furs tour the world this winter in handsome winter furs

Yeah. Sorry, that’s kinda it. I just wanted to write that headline. (And you gotta admit, it’s a beaut. Come stand over back here with me and admire that thing. Just kinda conveys it all, doesn’t it?) But I didn’t really have anything else planned… and now I’m kind of, you know, regretting this whole thing. Plus, I’m off for vacation in a few hours, and that’s not helping. Umm, well shit, you know how it goes: blah blah blah Handsome Furs… Canadian duo… Dan Boeckner and his wife Alexei Perry use keyboards and drum machines alongside guitars… latest album Sound Kapital out now on Sub Pop and even synthier than ever… Boeckner finally coming into his own (maybe?) now that Wolf Parade isn’t a thing… again, Canadian.

I mean, between that and a couple of jokes about PETA chasing them around because of a misunderstanding about fur coats and whatnot… it’s a TMT done-deal. Heck, it actually doesn’t sound like it would have been a bad story, especially when put up against the absent-minded, postmodern slop I usually churn out on the day before my vacation starts. Now I kind of wish I’d written it. Ah, regrets!

As many of you fans may already know, since January of this year, Dan Melchior (Dan Melchior und Das Menace, Dan Melchior’s Broke Revue) has been hard at work in a fight against cancer for his wife, Letha Melchior Rodman (Tretetam, Rub Falls, Das Menace), who was diagnosed with the terrible disease in 2010. The ongoing treatments have taken Rodman out of work, as well as her husband and caretaker. Not to mention, this is the USA, where a couple’s basic insurance does little to cover medical expenses. And now said insurance is to expire on December 1.

A collaboration of supporters, ranging from former record labels on which Melchior has released material to rock magazines to college radio, have set up a Letha Melchior Rodman Cancer Fund, which accepts donations that are directly deposited into a PayPal account for the family as they struggle with expenses and recovery. Dan is also continuing to sell records to raise funds on his Discogs page. Hopefully there will be more benefit shows following the one that took place in January at The Cake Shop.

So please feel inspired to take an opportunity this holiday season to do some direct, actual good instead of blowing your funds on discounted DVD players on Black Friday.

Guys! Guys! You only have three more months to find the perfect date for Valentine’s Day, the most important holiday of the Gregorian calendar!!!!! When everything is pink and red and a pale shade of revolting! What will you do if you don’t have someone special into whose face you can shove stale Fanny Farmer nougats? What will you do if you have to go see the latest Ashton Kutcher/Katherine Heigl/Sarah Jessica Parker/annoying “cute” kid/ghost of Charlie Sheen V-Day-related ensemble comedy ALL BY YOURSELF?

Well, thanks to Heartless Bastards, that shit’s no longer a problem. The Austin-based country rockers are gearing up to shoot that poison Arrow through your heeeeeeeart when they release their latest full-length Arrow on February 14. The band’s latest love letter to rock ‘n’ roll comes out on their new label, Partisan, which is home to fellow travelers Deer Tick, Middle Brother, and Dolorean. Arrow was produced by Spoon drummer/co-producer Jim Eno in Austin and is the result of some serious one-woman road trips by main vocalist/guitarist/pianist Erika Wennerstrom. The first single, “Parted Ways” hits airwaves and hearts come December 1, and maybe someday there’ll be a tracklist too.

Drummer Paul Motian, who for more than five decades imbued the smallest of musical gestures with supreme significance, died earlier today.

Jazztimes.com reports here that Motian, 80, “died at 4:52 a.m. in New York City, as confirmed by a representative from ECM Records… a cause of death has not been disclosed.”

During his storied career, Motian accompanied Bill Evans, Keith Jarrett and Joe Lovano, among many others, and led groups that included younger musicians such as Bill Frisell, Chris Potter, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Ben Monder, Steve Cardenas, and many others.

After an executive at Grooveshark copied Digital Music News (DMN) writer Paul Resnikoff in his response to a thread of messages to and from members of King Crimson in which they accuse the aggregator of not working to remove their content, as they are mandated to do under their DMCA protection, Resnikoff published the conversation on DMN. Comments began to show up right away, and included a “visitor” that claimed to work for Grooveshark. In his comment, he explained how staff members are required to add, “a predetermined ammount [sic] of weekly uploads to the system” and that they even, “get a small extra bonus if [they] manage to go above that.” The commenter closes his screed with a foreboding note to King Crimson: “there is no way in hell you can get your stuff down.”

As part of a previous lawsuit that Universal Music Group (UMG) had filed in New York state court against Grooveshark, emails were obtained that showed evidence of Grooveshark’s executives directly uploading illegal content into their database for users to access. Presumably spurred on by the support that the anonymous commenter provided, UMG has filed a new complaint against the company that seeks the maximum penalty of $150,000 per upload incidence. Grooveshark has yet to see the complaint and has so far refrained from commenting, but if UMG’s claims are substantiated, it’s only a matter of time before an injunction against the streaming service is put into place.

With a number of new services taking root, including Spotify, that offer free or cheap streaming services while at the same time provide a clear and proven model for paying artists, labels, and other rights holders, it was only a matter of time before Grooveshark would be forced to either explain what their business model actually was beyond selling advertising around unlicensed streams and keeping the profits, or shut down completely. As DMN demonstrated in a brief article from early October where they attempted to get a straight answer from Grooveshark SVP Paul Geller, Grooveshark is good at bullshitting, but not very good at providing concrete answers about how they compensate rights holders for using their artistic output.

Your favorite Saddle Creek band Cursive is primed and ready to unleash their next full-length album, the follow up to 2009’s Mama, I’m Swollen (TMT Review). While front man Tim Kasher is a Leo, he’s entitled this project I Am Gemini, chronicling a tale of good and evil between twins Cassius and Pollock. The fun really starts when the angels and devils chime in, along with twin sisters who are conjoined at the head.

The album is said to be their heaviest release in years and consists of 13 songs, which Kasher wrote in chronological order from the opening track to the closing song. So get ready for one hell of a mind-bending mercurial ride. Question is, do conjoined twins headbang in unison? Check out Cursive’s upcoming tourdates after the tracklisting for I Am Gemini, dropping on February 21, 2012.

I Am Gemini tracklisting:

01. This House Alive
02. Warmer Warmer
03. The Sun and Moon
04. Drunken Birds
05. Lullaby for No Name
06. Double Dead
07. Gemini
08. Twin Dragon/Hello Skeleton
09. Wowowow
10. This House a Lie
11. The Cat and Mouse
12. A Birthday Bash
13. Eulogy for No Name